Ray McCallum Jr. bypassed the biggest college basketball programs to stay home and play for his father at the University of Detroit Mercy, and now hopes to allow his father to live out some old NBA dreams through him.

McCallum Sr., the UDM head coach, almost made it. He was Mid-American Conference Player of the Year at Ball State in Muncie, Ind., the same city where he led his high school team to an Indiana state title.

The Indiana Pacers selected him in the eighth round of the 1983 draft and scheduled a preseason game in Muncie as tribute.

The game was canceled when McCallum Sr. was released before it could be played.

"You could tell, just by speaking to him, how tough it was," McCallum Jr. said at the recent NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. "Every player dreams of playing in the NBA. He was so close to making it happen and I could definitely tell it hurt.

"The kind of hurt that he went through, I want to prove to him and everybody that I can do it."

McCallum Jr., a projected second-round pick in the June 27 NBA Draft, has enjoyed the perks of basketball royalty for years, even as his independent decisions served to eschew some of the biggest ones.

He spurned firm offers from the likes of Arizona, Florida and UCLA, and while his workouts have impressed scouts, last year's Horizon League Player of the Year undoubtedly had more to prove than if he had played for a premier college program.

"It's kind of crazy to think, three years ago, I could have went just about anywhere I wanted to go," McCallum said. "McDonald's All-American, going to a smaller school, I kind of got overshadowed by a lot of the guys playing on TV every night.

"But in the back of my mind, that just gave more more motivation that I knew I would get this opportunity and try to make the best of it."

McCallum got summer runs as a high school player at the Detroit Pistons' practice facility, where he held his own -- as he remembers it -- in informal games involving the likes of Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Arron Afflalo. He became fast friends with Jordan Dumars, a peer and the son of Pistons president Joe Dumars, and the two remain in contact several times weekly.

But when it came time to discuss his readiness for the NBA Draft, McCallum said he purposely did not solicit Joe Dumars' opinion.

"It was a decision I had to make on my own," said McCallum, who has a pre-draft workout scheduled with the Pistons, who have second-round picks at Nos. 38 and 55 overall.

The 6-foot-2 McCallum tested well against other point guards at the NBA Draft Combine and his 40-inch maximum leap made him one of just 10 players at any position to reach that benchmark.

His challenge is shifting focus from scoring in college to distribution in the NBA.

McCallum's scoring and field-goal-attempt averages went up every year at UDM, to highs of 18.7 and 13.2, respectively, as a senior. So did his field-goal percentage, to a high of 49.1. But his best assists average, 4.9, came as a freshman.

“Teams want to know what kind of point guard am I,” McCallum said. “Am I a point guard or a two? I’ve always been an unselfish player, someone that likes to get my teammates involved, especially when I’m on the court with high-level guys. That’s something that I’m good at.”